Consumer use of the Chick-fil-A chain was up 2.2 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2011.

Written by

Bruce Horovitz
Gannett

Consumer use, visits and ad awareness were all up measurably in the third quarter, at a time the chicken chain appeared to be taking a public relations drubbing, reports research specialist Sandelman & Associates.

Intense national media and social media attention - much of it negative - was heaped on the chain three months ago, after President Dan Cathy told a religious publication that his company was "guilty as charged" in supporting the biblical definition of the family unit. ...